A few miles from her town, Kfarroman, on 28 September 2024, 42-year-old mother of two Rana Ghanawi nearly lost her children when a fire broke out in a vehicle in front of her following an airstrike that killed everyone inside. Rana is a social worker with a Master’s degree in Child and Adolescent Psychology and Family Mediation who prepared a study on the needs of returnees for UN Women.

Pregnancy is hard enough without adding the fear and risk of bombardment. So, when the hostilities intensified in Kfarsir–Nabatieh, South Lebanon last month, 29-year-old pregnant mother Lama Chami made the courageous decision to flee. Likewise, Afaf Shoaib, a 29-year-old mother of two, was forced to flee her home in Baalbek, northeastern Lebanon, and arrived with her husband and children at Auberge Beity a month ago, in the dead of night.

Amid the intensified armed conflict in Lebanon, women and girls are enduring unimaginable suffering. They need urgent shelter, winterization items, nutritious food, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, to be protected from gender-based violence, and have their rights and dignity guaranteed.

Lebanon’s female labour force participation rate stood at a mere 28.7 per cent in 2022, notably lower than the corresponding rate for men (67 per cent). UN Women partnered with the NGO Acted to provide temporary employment opportunities for 300 women in four menstrual hygiene production facilities in Beirut, Saida, Tripoli and Bekaa. Among them was Ruba Rayya, in Bekaa, whose journey was marked by both difficulties and unexpected empowerment.

Montaha Jaber, 55, has been living in the Bekaa region most of her life. Determined to gain independence and make ends meet, she took a job at UN Women and Acted’s new menstrual hygiene production facility, which was starting a new line producing quality and affordable women’s sanitary products. Trained as a manufacturer, Montaha reflects on her work and the mission of challenging social taboos around women’s reproductive health.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Government of Australia renewed its commitment to gender equality in Lebanon through signature of a new agreement with UN Women Lebanon worth 1,500,000 Australian dollar to extend humanitarian assistance to over 4,300 women, girls, men and boys from diverse backgrounds across three governorates in Lebanon.

Hwaida Turk, PhD, is the first woman interim Mohafez (governor) in Lebanon. She was appointed on 17 July 2023 to the southern Governorate of Nabatieh. She spoke to UN Women about the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine that have displaced nearly 20,000 people from South Lebanon, and how she is handling the humanitarian response.

UN Women in partnership with Acted and local community-based organization Nusaned and with support from the Government of Japan inaugurated the ‘Nasma*’ menstrual hygiene pad production facility in Beirut.  

Fadilah Yassin Suleiman fled Syria with her family in 2016, 5 years after the war broke out. The 35 years old mother of two lost her husband two years after arriving in Lebanon and has been the sole caregiver for her family ever since. After joining a UN Women initiative as a manufacturing trainee in a unit producing quality and affordable menstrual hygiene items with the social enterprise Roof and Roots in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli, she has since regained her confidence to trust in herself to succeed and felt empowered to stand up for herself and better protect her children.

The Government of Australia and UN Women in Lebanon have signed an agreement to provide $2.5m Australian Dollars to deliver humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable women of any nationality, and their families, to access emergency livelihood opportunities, while ensuring access to protection support and basic sanitary necessities.

Itab Bayoud, 46, a Lebanese woman and mother of four has dedicated her life to caring for her family. Determined to gain independence and help make ends meet, she took a job with the social enterprise Roof and Roots in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli, which was starting a new line producing quality and affordable menstrual hygiene products. Trained as a manufacturer, Itab reflects on her work and challenging social taboos around women’s reproductive health.

Hiba Mohammad Hussein, 34 years old, is a mother of two from Tripoli, north Lebanon. In 2015, she took over as the family provider when her husband was hurt in clashes. She had been working to make ends meet as a driving instructor, but this had become difficult with the increasing price of fuel. In 2021 she began working with a joint social enterprise led in partnership with the Lebanese NGO, Roof and Roots Association, UN Women and ACTED, making sanitary products and raising awareness on reproductive health.

Hayat Mirshad is a Lebanese feminist activist. In 2012, she initiated the first-ever feminist radio programme in Lebanon “Sharika wa Laken” (A Partner Not Yet Equal), where she remains as one of the web and content managers. She is a co-founder and co-director at FE-MALE, a non-profit feminist collective, and head of communications and campaigning at the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering- RDFL, a women’s rights organization working for gender equality in Lebanon for more than 40 years. She is also a member of UN Women’s Youth Gender Innovation Agora. Hayat attended the Regional Youth Forum on Ending Violence against Women supported by the Government of Japan